Last Day in the Swiss Alps

June 8th

We only have one morning left before leaving for Lyon, France, where we will spend the night and fly to Paris on June 9th.  

Looking at the Eiger from our balcony our last night

The hotel across the street from us

Our last day in the Alps, we only had a few hours left because we had to drive to Lyon and it was a four hour drive from Grindelwald.   We decided we wanted to go back to Grindelwald First because the hike to Lake Bachalpsee would be opening that day, June 8th.    The hiking path had been closed because of the unseasonable amount of snow.   We had hopes of hiking to the top of the mountain where this crystal clear glacial lake reflects the snow-covered Alpine Peaks. 

We took the gondola ride once again to the top of the terrace at Grindelwald First.  (See yesterday's post)

There are so many hiking paths in the alps.  We didn't have time to take a single one.   

Next time we come, I'll do much more planning.

What a hike this would be!

The air is so fresh.  I never had any allergies the entire time.

When we reached the top of Grindelwald First, we saw this sign.  Lake Balchalpsee went to the left, and the Fast Flyer zipline went to the right.  I wasn't sure how long the hike would be, but knew it couldn't be too far.   This was the first day the trail was open because there had been so much snow this year.  It seemed like we were one of the first people to hike it as well because we got on the gondola around 9:40 and it normally doesn't open until 10:00.   

The beginning of the hike to Lake Bachalpsee

The views were gorgeous, even more so than on the terrace.

A funny looking snow drift that looked like a head with a face

There was a lot of snow still on the trail.

Dan is not a hiker by choice, but goes along with me because I like it.  This hike was pretty much all uphill and after about 30 minutes, he wasn't very happy.  I wanted to keep going and Dan was trying to be a good sport about it.  The views were so beautiful and I really wanted to make it to the Lake.  It would be our last thing before leaving the alps.

 

We stopped several times along the way to breathe. 

I'm sure it won't be much further.

Another couple got on the trail after us, but soon they were ahead.  I was afraid we weren't going to make it to the Lake.

Another couple along the way got ahead of us.

The woman stopped to rest on a bench overlooking the Alps while her husband forged ahead.

There was a little hut along the way.

You could see the whole north face of the Eiger straight on.

You could see the village so tiny below.

Oh no, not another hill to forge before we make it to the top.

After about 45 minutes of hiking, Dan wanted to turn around.  He had been a good sport.  I agreed, but reluctantly.  Later, we found that the hike is about 2 hours round trip.  So we had been more than halfway there when we turned around.   Next time we come to Switzerland, I hope I'll find a hiking partner.  Any volunteers?

We had to go down before we reached the lake.

This is what we would have seen had we made it to the lake.  Thanks Google images. 

I really want to go back. 

On the way back down

As we went back down, more people were starting to come up the trail.

And a parasailer glided above us.

Taking the gondola down.

Don't these hiking trails look like fun?

And this is just the Grindelwald area.  There are dozens of other areas to hike.

What are these goats doing on the patio of someone's house?  We saw this from the gondola on the way down.

So we left Grindelwald and headed for Lyon around 12:30 PM.  We made it there by about 4:45 and it was rainy.   There, we arranged all our stuff in the suitcases and boarded a plane for Paris the next day, June 9th.   We arrived at the Paris airport in the evening and went to Sheraton Hotel, which is in the airport in Paris.  We would spend the night and get up early for our flight to Phoenix.  

The adventure was almost over.  Many people say that there's no place like home after a long trip like this.  Not me.  There's no place like Paris, Provence, the Routes des Grande Alpes, and Switzerland.  I don't want to go home!